Living Under Starclan
by Rikiblade
Summary: Deep in the forest, far, far away from Twolegs and dogs, where there are waterfalls and secret caves and tunnels hidden beneath our paws. Deep down there, where no-cat born there has seen anything outside the forest, there is The Clan of The Living. The clan before anyone goes to Starclan or the dark forest, where loners join and gain new families and rouges never dare to go.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue: Survivor

Deep in the forest, far, far away from Twolegs and dogs, where there are waterfalls and secret caves and tunnels hidden beneath our paws. Deep down there, where no-cat born there has seen anything outside the forest, there is The Clan of The Living. The clan before anyone goes to Starclan or the dark forest, where loners join and gain new families and rouges never dare to go. In the middle out the forest, hidden in a care, is the camp. In the camp, everyone can hear the soft wails coming from the nursery, for both a blessing and a curse has happened.

"Why Starclan? Why would you take them?!" Waterlily, a dark blue tom wailed, his green eyes filled sorrow.

"Waterlily, not all hope is lost. Breezekit is still alive, do not forget her." A dirty grey cat named Oneclaw said. They tapped dark blue kit snuggled against Waterlily with their tail. Grey eyes full of sympathy. As if on cue, Breezekit mewled and pawed blindly at Waterlily`s stomach.

"I know Oneclaw, but I don`t understand why Starclan would take two kits that weren't even a heart-beat old..." Waterlily cried, wrapping a tail around Breezekit and licking her.

"Life can be cruel, but don`t blame Starclan. They do not take cats, they simply welcome them. Keep them in your memory, even if they were never named. Remember, Starclan is not all powerful." Oneclaw explained, trying to sooth their friend.

"Do you think they will blame me for their deaths... do you think Honeyclaw will hate me for killing his kits?" Waterlily asked, voice quivering.

"No one will blame you for their deaths! It is not your fault." Oneclaw said, putting a paw on Waterlily`s shoulder. "Honeyclaw loves you, he will never hate you. Remember when he climbed the Ancient Tree and proclaimed his love for you to the whole clan?" they said, recalling the day the tom had interrupted their leader, Jaystar, in the middle of an announcement just to tell Waterlily how he felt. The tongue lashing Hollyherb, the Medicine Cat, had given him. He`d been subjected to cleaning the elders den for a moon, but he did it with pride.

"Yeah...I remember how shocked I was..." Waterlily said, nostalgia gleaming in his eyes, "I secretly helped him clean the Elder`s den by the way." He whispered, chuckling a little.

"Do you remember you`re official mate ceremony?" Oneclaw asked, smiling at the memory.

"Oh yes! If Jaystar hadn't interrupted him, I`m sure he would have gone on and on all day about his love for me. I thought I`d die that day." The dark blue tom smiled lovingly.

"There... you see? Just take care of Breezekit and keep you`re other kits in your heart." Oneclaw smiled, "Now get some sleep, kits can be little devils and lack of sleep is not a good way to help deal with them."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1: Outside

"Father?" Breezekit asked, stumbling over to Honeyclaw, as he walked into the nursery.

"Run, Honeyclaw. She`s been pestering us all morning." Oneclaw said from their nest sarcastically, chuckling.

"Anything for my favorite daughter." Honeyclaw said, smiling and nuzzling Breezekit.

"But I`m your ONLY daughter!" Breezekit complained, sniffing indignity. "Oh, right... when I become an apprentice, can you be my mentor?" She asked.

"I`m sorry my darling, but parents aren't allowed to mentor their kits." Honeyclaw answered.

"That`s what I said." Waterlily complained, swishing his tail back and forth.

"Aww... but dads!" Breezekit whined, looking at Honeyclaw with big eyes.

"No buts Breezekit, that`s the way it is." Waterlily said, walking over and picking Breezekit up by her scruff.

"Not far..." Breezekit whined.

"Do I hear a kit whining for a mentor?" Leafdew, a black she-cat said, blue eyes gleaming as she trotted into the nursery.

"Back off Leafdew, everyone knows you just want to be leader." Honeyclaw hissed.

"Honeyclaw... there`s nothing wrong with that..." Oneclaw stated.

"See, besides... I just want to meet Breezekit." Leafdew said, smiling slyly, walking up to Breezekit. "May I?"

"Go ahead." Waterlily said between mouthfuls of fur, Honeyclaw was staring intensely at Leafdew.

"Hello little one, it`s nice to meet you." She said, leaning down a little to look Breezekit in the eye. Breezekit smiled and put her paws on Leafdew`s snout.

"Hi." The small kit said, looking at Leafdew with shining eyes. "I`m Breezekit."

"And I`m Leafdew." The black she-cat said, "Have you seen the outside yet?"

"She hasn`t, why don't you and Honeyclaw take her out. It`s been a moon, after all." Waterlily suggested.

"Wish I could... but I promised Silvereyes to go hunt with them..." Honeyclaw said, giving a glare to Leafdew before stalking off.

"I`ll take you, Breezekit." Leafdew offered. Breezekit squealed and nodded her head. Waterlily carefully set her child down, the young kit looked at Waterlily for a moment, before rushing after Leafdew.

As the two cats walked out of the cave, Breezekit tried to shield their eyes from the bright new-leaf light with her paws.

"Why is it so bright?" she whined, trying to adjust to the light. Leafdew chuckled, using her tail to shield Breezekit`s eyes a little.

"This is called the outside, the nursery and medicine cats den are in the cave we were just in. Everything else is up here! This is also where we hunt!" Leafdew explained. "The outside is very big, and it`s not always so sunny and bright."

"R-really? What else is it like?" Breezekit asked in amazement and wonder.

"Sometimes lots of water falls from the sky and the white things in the sky turn grey and black the sun. And every night the sun goes away and it gets really dark and a large circle in the sky appears ad changes shape. As the moons go by the leaves turn different colors and then frozen water falls from the sky. It turns the ground white." Leafdew gained a great pleasure from seeing the young kit look so excited. "Prey gets less and less and it gets really cold." Breezekit frowned. "But then a few moons later, the white frozen water goes away and it ends up being like right now again. With lots and lots of prey!" Breezekit looked around, eyes wide.

"And it happens all the time?" She asked, paws shuffling on the ground.

"It never stops and it never happens the same way as it did last time." Leafdew said, pointing her paw to the sky. "The world is full of many different things, and there are many things we don`t know about it." Breezekit looked at Leafdew in awe and then at the cats around them and the sunny, grassy plains emerging from the cave.

"I can`t wait until I`m old enough to see it all!" the small kit cried out, practically vibrating with excitement.

"You will one day Breezekit... you will one day." Leafdew said, smiling happily.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

"Breezekit, do you wish to become an apprentice to our clan and learn to serve as a warrior until you die?" Jaystar, a green eyed, black furred town asked. He stood on the lowest branch of the Ancient Tree, looking down at Breezekit.

"I do." Breezekit said with confidence, sitting straight as a board.

"Then as leader of the clan, I name you Breezepaw." Jaystar exclaimed. The cats of the clan, all gathered around the tree yowled and whooped, calling Breezepaw`s name over and over happily.

"Leafdew, you are to be Breezepaw`s mentor, I trust you will teach her your natural loyalty and skills." Jaystar ordered, pointing his tail to Leafdew, everyone turned to look at her.

"I promise to teach her everything I know." Leafdew said, standing tall and proud, looking at Breezepaw with a smile. Breezepaw smiled joyfully and nodded her head, happy with her leaders' choice of mentor.

"As expected. I look forward to seeing you grow into a warrior, Breezepaw." Jaystar said, dismissing then clan and climbing down his tree. Breezepaw raced over to Leafdew, bouncing and spinning around the older cat with joyful mews.

"Leafdew, Leafdew! You`re my mentor now, can you believe it? I get to learn all your cool tricks! I can`t wait, I can`t wait, I can`t wait!" What are we going to do first? Huh, huh, huh?!" she asked, Leafdew smiled and chuckled.

"Well then, let`s not make you wait any longer, hmm?" Leafdew said, "Come on, why don`t I show you around the forest." Breezepaw squealed and nodded.

"Tread carefully, Breezepaw." Leafdew warned as both cats made their way across some slippery stepping stones, which made the rapid river crossable.

"I know! Hey! What`s this river called?" Breezepaw asked, full of excitement as she continued to ask the name of every single thing she saw.

"It`s called the River to Starclan." Leafdew explained, smiling as she made sure Breezepaw didn't slip.

"Why`s it called that?" the small dark `paw asked once they crossed to the other side of the river.

"Because a long time ago, apprentices and young warriors would dare each other to swim in the river... and get carried away and die." The taller black she-cat explained solemnly. "Nowadays, we use this river as a send-off to our dead clanmates." Breezepaw looked at her mentor and then back at the river. She didn't speak, but dipped her head down as if she was praying.

"Heheh..." Leafdew chuckled, "You`re a good kit." She said, using her tail to lead her apprentice along. "C`mon, this will be our last stop, today."

"Wow! What is all this stuff! There`s so much!" breezepaw squealed as she looked at the clearing that was surrounded by thick bushes and tall trees.

"It`s a very important medicine called Catmint, or Catnip, only cure for greencough." Leafdew said, "Don`t touch it." She said as she used her tail to halt Breezepaw from jumping into the mass amounts of green herbs.

"Then... why is that cat in them?" Breezepaw asked, pointing out a fluffy tiger striped cat, shuffling through the catmint. Leafdew growled, her fur brisling.

"I don`t know, but I do know he`s not a clanmate of ours." She said, "Breezepaw, go back to the camp, I`ll handle this."

Breezepaw looked at her mentor with wide, scared eyes "But Leafd-" she tried to say.

"Breezepaw you have no battle skills, go. Now." Leafdew hissed between gritted teeth. Breezepaw didn't move for a second, then she nodded reluctantly and turned tail to speed off.


End file.
